SLAC Group is delighted to announce that both its new innovations have been shortlisted for the upcoming Global Supplier Awards.

Taking place at CanTech The Grand Tour trade event in Istanbul,  in March 2019, the awards are said to honour the supplier in the industry showcasing the most promising innovations within the can making industry.

SLAC’s innovations shortlisted are the following:

SLAC- Digital Printing Miniline

Many of the new market opportunities for metal packaging are likely to be from smaller volume ranges,in average run sizes which in the past would have precluded DWI. For this reason, SLAC has developed mini-line concepts around SLAC’s new digital printer, which lower the traditional volume threshold for DWI and open up low-cost opportunities for annual volumes of 75m cans, many times less than the generally accepted minimum for conventional DWI. One of the mini-line concepts is this completely stand-alone line using Tata’s Protact laminated steel, the result of a joint project between the two companies to develop a DWI line with a small footprint and without the requirement for ancillary ‘wet’ equipment and corresponding ovens.

SLAC’s SC-DCP-B2006 Digital Printer is capable of running in excess of 200 cans per minute,dependent on image and required resolution, and achieves up to 600DPI, which enables photo-quality printing on cans, without any of the cost and time of design changeovers. As a result, ‘one can one design’ is possible and printing costs are lower than conventional offset on runs lower than 30,000 beverage cans or 25,000 monobloc or DWI aerosols.

SLAC- Hexad Conversion Press                                                                                                                         

SLAC’s new Hexad conversion press for beverage ends has a rated speed of 4,500 ends per minute, significantly better than the previous maximum speed of 3,000 ends per minute. The conversion system is built into a standard Minster ECH-125 press, and has six out lanes from a press normally producing four-out.The system uses a two die-set configuration, with three lanes from each, and achieves great stability, as demonstrated by Minster’s own control and validation tests.

The press therefore has the same footprint as a four-out machine, but produces 50% more volume. The tooling and mechanical drive are similar to a traditional four-out system, and there is easy access to the tooling system for maintenance.

In addition to the Capex saving in cost per thousand, there is a metal utilisation saving of 4.5% due to the more efficient strip layout.

Commenting on SLAC Group being shortlisted for these awards, chief operating officer and chief marketing officer Chris McKenzie, said: "As a group we're delighted to be shortlisted in the Supplier Innovation Awards, with our Hexad 6 out conversion press and our digital decorator.

"Please vote for us to show your support for the increased competition and innovations SLAC are heavily invested in, as we move forward into the 2020s."

You can vote for SLAC Group via:

https://www.cantechthegrandtour.com/awards/vote-in-the-supplier-awards/